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10/23/2003 Archived Entry: "Medal of Honor Awarded for Iraq Action"

CMOH TO BE AWARDED POSTHUMOUSLY: SFC Paul Ray Smith will be posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour for leading 15 to 20 engineers, mortarmen and medics against a force of over 100 Iraqi Special Republican Guard. Smith was killed during the action that resulted in saving dozens of American lives.

On the morning of April 4, the Task Force was inside of the airport and several enemy soldiers had been captured, so a containment pen had be to quickly built. There was a wall 10 ft tall paralleling the north side of the highway, on the battalion's flank just behind the front lines. Smith (whose callsign was 'Sapper 7') decided to punch a hole in it, so that the inside walls would form two sides of a triangular enclosure and the open third side could be closed off with rolls of concertina wire.

Smith used an armored combat earthmover to punch through the wall and, while wire was being laid across the corner, one of the squad's two M113s moved toward a gate on the far side of the courtyard. The driver pushed open the gate to open a field of fire, revealing between 50 and 100 enemy soldiers massed to attack. The only way out was the hole the engineers had put in the wall and the gate where the hardcore Iraqis were firing.

What happened next was equal to Audie Murphy's legendary World War II heroism. Iraqi soldiers perched in trees and a nearby tower let loose with a barrage of RPGs and there were snipers on the roof. A mortar round hit the engineers' M-113, seriously wounding three soldiers inside. Smith helped evacuate them to an aid station, which was threatened by the attack as well.

Smith promptly organized the engineers' defense, since the only thing that stood between the Iraqis and the Task Force's headquarters were about 15 to 20 engineers, mortarmen and medics. A second M113 was hit by an RPG, but was still operational. Dozens of Iraqi soldiers were charging from the gate or scaling a section of the wall, jumping into the courtyard.

Smith took over the second APC's .50-caliber machine gun and got the vehicle into a position where he could stop the Iraqis. First Sergeant Tim Campbell realized that they had to knock out the Iraqi position in the tower and after consulting with Smith, led two soldiers to take the tower. Armed only with a light machine-gun, a rifle and a pistol with one magazine, the trio advanced behind the smoke of tall grass that had caught fire from exploding ammunition.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. With men like these a nation cannot fail.

Read on.

Replies: 2 comments

I posted this story on another site and found out from a visitor that there is no mention of SFC Paul Ray Smith on the DOD’s site. You would figure the press or the DOD would highlight this in some fashion.

I’m not casting any judgment yet on either SFC Paul Smith or the DOD, but it’s best to wait and see what happens with this story.

Posted by Cody @ 10/24/2003 03:17 PM EST

Hmm, most mentions on the web I found point to the article I did.

In related news, there is a web site dedicated to Smith. You can find it here.

Posted by Steve Martinovich @ 10/25/2003 04:21 AM EST